Advisers to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden are preparing to negotiate with Nicolás Maduro’s regime in Venezuela in an effort to end the neighboring country’s worst economic and humanitarian crisis, three familiar officials said. with the subject.
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Once in power, Biden would seek to push for free and fair democratic elections in Venezuela, offering in return relief from sanctions, the people, who requested anonymity, said.
Contrary to outgoing administration Trump, Who insisted that he would only negotiate “the terms of a surrender”, an issue that Biden’s advisers do not set as a precondition as they would be open to direct dialogue.
The President-elect’s team will review existing sanctions to determine from which points it could expand restrictions, with the help of international allies. “If Maduro advances towards the democratic goal.”
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Under this scenario, Maduro’s foreign sponsors, including Russia, China and Iran, are expected to play a role, as will Cuba, which is eager to improve relations with the United States.
Biden’s advisers described the Venezuela crisis as the biggest diplomatic challenge which will face the western hemisphere.
More than 5 million people have fled Venezuela in recent years, escaping relentless economic convulsions sprinkled with violence generated by criminal gangs, power cuts, widespread food shortages and the hostility of left-wing opposition government.
United States: between the officialdom and the Venezuelan opposition
Nicolás Maduro has shown interest in improving relations when Biden takes office and expressed his desire that the new administration alleviate the sanctions that have crushed Venezuela’s oil revenues.
The Venezuelan economy is expected to shrink by a third in 2020, according to consulting firm Ecoanalitica. Nationally, Biden will keep his promise on Temporary Protection Status, which would allow Venezuelans who fled the regime in the United States to stay, officials said.
The truth is that one of the most thorny issues for Biden is how he will address the claim of the opposition leader Juan Guaidó to the presidency.
(In context: EE. UU. He will continue to support the Venezuelan Parliament elected in 2015).
The United States and more than 50 countries recognized Guaidó as interim leader in early 2019, when he assumed command of the National Assembly (AN), while rejecting the results of the recent legislative elections in Venezuela, where the opposition took the vast majority of seats for the new AN.
Elections to deputies on December 6 had a wide abstention, while the opposition held its own consultation a week later.
Miguel Gutiérrez. EFE
The truth is that Biden will take office, just two weeks after the new AN is established in Venezuela, which the majority opposition is unaware of.
Although since the end of November, Guaidó has tried to arrange a call with Biden, without success so far, his efforts are maintained in that the international community he continues to be recognized as the leader of the AN and interim president of Venezuela after January 5th.
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Biden, who takes office on January 20, also said the Venezuelan president “is simply a dictator,” although analysts believe he will be more moderate and advocate international mediation for a gradual transition to a new government. Venezuelan.
Miguel Díaz Canel, President of Cuba.
Cuba, another relationship that Biden seeks to transform
On the other hand, Joe Biden plans to bring his country closer to normalized relations with Cuba, reversing many of the sanctions and regulations imposed during the Trump administration.
This strategy includes the reduction of restrictions on travel, investment and remittances for the island nation, which are perceived to harm ordinary Americans and Cubans.
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Other measures attacking Cuba for human rights abuses will remain in place, U.S. government sources consulted.
The prospect of a distension between Washington and Havana revives memories of the thaw that Biden helped defend during the Obama administration, when the two nations re-established diplomatic ties broken for decades, after the Fidel Castro’s rise to power.
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